Chapter two

Enid’s POV

The host walks up to us as my date grabs my hands, leading me out of the diner.

“Mr. Dorne, is there…”

“I’ll see you some other time.”

The night air lashes at my skin, but he doesn’t stop walking. Behind him, my forehead is scrunched in confusion as I try to remember the name my mother told me. Was his second name Dorne?

God, I should have paid better attention. It doesn’t help that my phone keeps ringing, the sound slicing into the night.

“Mr. Dorne!" The name sounds foreign on my lips, and for a minute, it sounds so familiar. Not in the way that depicts I have heard it before. Much more familiar. Like I have used it a couple of times. Like I have lived in the orbit of that name.

It nudges my brain gently, as if trying to remember something my body and mind don't want to. I feel a headache coming on, just as his feet finally come to a halt.

“Get in.”

I see that we are standing out by the curb, beside the passenger seat of a beautiful sports car. He pulls open the door and steps aside, nudging his head in the direction of the passenger’s seat.

Standing there in the night, framed by the dim lights of the flickering streetlamps, he looks ethereal, the lights framing him, creating a perfect and delicate balance between light and darkness.

In that moment, I forget how to breathe as I stare into his features. Something doesn’t feel right.

I stop when my phone rings again, and a groan escapes my lips. Why won’t Adrien leave me the hell alone?

This is when I see him, striding out of the darkness, his hands clenched into fists by his side. My date follows my line of vision and closes the door slowly when Adrien gets closer. He looks like he is on his way somewhere, dressed in a pair of slacks and an armless tee he only brings out when he’s partying.

“Adrien…”

"Really?" It sounds like venom shooting out of his tongue. "We break up for twenty-four hours, and you are already on to the next guy. How further low could you go?"

From the corner of my eyes, I watch my date lean on the hood of the car, his arms folded across his chest and his eyes narrowed, like he is prepared for the ultimate show of his life.

Of course, trust my parents to act nonchalant about the list of attributes they want in a man. That is where they and I are so familiar. Our poor choice in nonchalant men. At least, in their case, they ensure he is rich.

“Don’t you dare tell me what to do, Adrien,” I snap, taking a step closer to him. “I loved you with the entirety of my being, and I stood by you in your worst moments when no one gave you a chance. And how did you pay me back?”

"I told you it was one mistake, Enid. One. Don't tell me you have not cheated on me, too."

“I have never!”  I almost lose it. It feels like heat is licking up my skin, but all for the wrong reasons. “But I guess that doesn’t matter to you since cheating is your thing.”

“Baby…”

“Get your hands off me!” I scream. Adrien jerks back, but insistence shines through his eyes. He isn’t giving up. I need to do something to make him leave me the hell alone.

“You want me to believe you have never cheated on me?” He laughs, shaking his head. “Do you know how impossible that is, seeing you dressed like a whore in front of a stranger. Or wait.”

He pauses dramatically, his gaze sliding to my date and then back at me. "Maybe he isn't such a stranger after all. Maybe you have been fucking him behind me, and all it took for me to find out was doing the same thing to you."

I cannot believe the words coming out of his mouth.

“That dress should be behind your closet, just like you promised me.”

“You no longer own me,” I shoot back. “And besides, my fiancé loves it, okay? His opinion is the only thing that matters.”

The words are out before I can stop them, and suddenly, it feels like we have all been plunged into a hole of silence. Time seems to slow down. My date leans away from the car, the small fracture in the silence. He stops by my side.

"As much as I loved watching this exchange, we have to live now."  And then, he positions himself between me and my ex. "It is Adrien, right?"

Adrien's eyes dart up to his. The difference between their heights almost brings laughter to my lips.

“It is over between you two. Learn how to take your losses and walk away. And besides, you don’t deserve her. You know that.”

They are only words, but in that instant, they make me feel so good. My date’s arm wraps around me as he leads me into the car, leaving Adrien there on the sidewalk watching us.

Inside the car, I turn to him. “Marry me.”

He chuckles. “It was fun watching you out there tell your ex that we are engaged, but you don’t have to do that when it is just the both of us.”

I shake my head insistently. “I’m serious, Mr. Dorne.”

“It’s Cassian.”

"Cassian," I repeat. "This was the essence of the blind date, wasn't it? My parents want me to get married to you. They won't have gone through all of this if that wasn't their aim. We might as well just save them the stress and get right into it. It doesn't have to be a big deal. We could go to the court tomorrow. Just the two of us and a few witnesses."

"Are you doing this because of him?"  Cassian nudges outside the window to Adrien.

“Would it affect your reply if I told you that I was?”

He seems to think about it for a few seconds before he shrugs. "Okay," he murmurs. "Let's get married."

Cassian pulls the car into the road, and all I can think about is the decision I have just made. I like to think of myself as planned and calculated, but this isn't being calculated.

It is something else.

And it feels good.

When Cassian drops me off at my doorstep, he leans out through the window. “I’ll be at the court tomorrow morning. Do not be late. My time is important to me.”

As he pulls away, my mother’s call comes in.

“HI, Mom!”

"Where the hell have you been, and why did you not go to that diner?"

My feet falter. "What?”

"Your date just called, Enid, and he said he waited for you all night. You didn't show up."